Saturday, January 13, 2018
OFF PAGE ONE
LIFEWAYS: Police chief frustrated with lack of mental health services in the county
Page 12A
East Oregonian
Continued from 1A
response over the past several
months, but the pace of improve-
ment needed to be quicker.
Judy Cordeniz, the outgoing
CEO of Lifeways, said GOBHI
had not discussed their announce-
ment with her prior to a pointed
press release Friday.
“I had not heard of this, so I’m
not going to comment,” she said. “I
can assure you that Lifeways will
do what we need to do to ensure
that clients and service areas are
adequately taken care of.”
Also on Friday, Lifeways
announced new CEO Tim Hoek-
stra, who will oversee the organiza-
tion’s services in Hermiston, Pend-
leton, Umatilla, Milton-Freewater
and Ontario. Calls to Hoekstra
were not returned by press time.
Umatilla County Commis-
sioner George Murdock is a
board member of GOBHI. He
said he was not surprised by the
announcement, as there have been
many discussions about concerns
with crisis services in the county.
“About a month ago, all the law
enforcement officers in Umatilla
County signed a letter to GOBHI
indicating that they needed a
new source of crisis intervention
services,” Murdock said. “They
submitted it to GOBHI and the
GOBHI board.”
Campbell said he had received
the letter.
“I’d say (the letter) as much
as anything was the catalyst for
speeding up the changes,” he
said. “I think Lifeways has been
trying very hard, but when you get
behind the eight ball, help can be
appreciated.”
He said goals for Lifeways
would include decreased reliance
on emergency rooms and jails for
people in mental health crisis. He
said that could include assessing
people in need at home or in the
streets, instead of automatically
transporting them to a hospital or
jail.
“That’s something the entire
state has been pushing for the last
several years,” he said.
Murdock said the Aspen
Springs facility, which is being
constructed in Hermiston and
is slated to be run by Lifeways,
could be one part of a solution.
The facility, which he said is still
in the licensing phase, has 16 beds
to hold people in crisis.
“I think if we can get some true
changes (to Lifeways) in the next
60 to 90 days, it would enhance
the operations of Aspen Springs,”
he said.
The changes comes just days
after an incident with a man in
crisis caused local law enforce-
ment to note problems that have
stemmed from a lack of mental
health services in the county.
Peyton Hobbs, 24, smashed a
window at the Hermiston Police
Department Wednesday, then
demanded officers arrest him.
Police arrested Hobbs, who is
known to officers and the commu-
nity and has a history of mental
illness, for criminal mischief. He
was lodged at the Umatilla County
Jail. Hermiston Police Chief Jason
Edmiston said as of Thursday
afternoon, Hobbs was no longer
in jail and had been turned over to
Saint Anthony Hospital.
Edmiston said he received a
message from a sergeant early
Thursday morning that Lifeways
had placed a direct hold on Hobbs
and requested that the Sheriff’s
Office transport him to St.
Anthony.
“He was not released from
jail — he was taken from jail by
Lifeways,” Edmiston said.
Edmiston said he did not know
why Hobbs was transferred in the
middle of the night.
“I spoke with a family member
(of Hobbs) who was trying to find
out where he was,” Edmiston said.
Though he did not identify
any specific entities, Edmiston
on Thursday said he was frus-
trated with the lack of mental
health services in the county, and
concerned with the increased pres-
sure on police to handle people in
mental crisis.
“At what point do we say the
police can only do so much?” he
said. “I am concerned at this trend
of ‘train the police more.’”
Edmiston said 20 of his
department’s 27 sworn officers
have received crisis intervention
training. But he said their training
does not always ensure mental
health professionals will follow
through once the initial crisis has
passed.
“We send officers off to a
weeklong training, and tell them,
if you do A, B, C, then X, Y, Z will
happen,” he said. “(The officers)
do A, B, C, and often X and maybe
Y will happen.”
He admitted that law enforce-
ment doesn’t always know what
roadblocks mental health profes-
sionals face in trying to provide
their services, but that based on
comments he received on his
press release, many people had
witnessed the lack of resources
when it comes to mental health
resources.
“I still want to be a glass half
full type of person,” he said.
“But after 20-plus years in this
profession, I’ve seen enough that
it can be very difficult to remain
optimistic.”
Murdock said he did not think
the announcement Friday was
a direct result of Edmiston’s
comments. Edmiston himself did
not have a comment on GOBHI’s
announcement.
———
Contact Jayati Ramakrishnan
at jramakrishnan@eastoregonian.
com or 541-564-4534
STUDENTS: Altrusa increasingly acting as the safety net for district’s homeless and impoverished
Continued from 1A
“It was embarrassing for me and
I didn’t know how it caught on so
easily,” he said.
Despite his situation, Daniel
said his grades didn’t drop, and he
tried to stay focused and tune out
the noise.
In the meantime, Tasha was
trying to find a way out of the tent.
She eventually found a solution
from the Community Action
Program of East Central Oregon’s
moving forward rental assistance
program, which provides tempo-
rary rental subsidies to people in
need.
Actions snowballed rapidly:
Tasha started talking with CAPECO
on Dec. 7 about the program and by
Dec. 18 she was signing paperwork
to move into a new apartment.
Tasha decided to surprise Daniel
with the news, telling him that they
were going to be staying with a
friend. When he walked into the
empty apartment and realized it
was all their’s, he was shocked.
“I had forgotten what it was like
to have my own room,” he said.
Altrusa of Pendleton went a
“I had forgotten
what it was like to
have my own room.”
— Daniel Lamont, on moving
into a new apartment
step further by donating Christmas
gifts to the family, purchasing new
clothes for Daniel and new furni-
ture for the apartment.
“We didn’t think anyone cared
enough,” Tasha said.
Growing need
Debbie McBee has heard
that sentiment before. McBee, a
Pendleton School Board member,
is the co-chair of Altrusa’s KARE
project.
KARE — Kids at Risk Empow-
ered — provides clothing, hygiene
products and other essential
household goods to homeless chil-
dren within the Pendleton School
District on a quarterly basis.
Altrusa is increasingly acting
as the safety net for the district’s
homeless and impoverished chil-
dren.
Several years ago, Altrusa
Review shows pesticides harm
threatened salmon, whales
WASHINGTON
(AP)
— Federal scientists have
determined that a family
of widely used pesticides
poses a threat to dozens of
endangered and threatened
species, including Pacific
salmon, Atlantic sturgeon
and Puget Sound orcas.
The National Marine
Fisheries Service issued
its new biological opinion
on three organophosphate
pesticides — chlorpyrifos,
diazinon and malathion —
after a yearslong court fight
by environmental groups.
At the urging of pesticide
manufacturers, the Trump
administration had sought a
two-year delay of a court-or-
dered deadline to issue the
findings by the end of 2017,
but it was unsuccessful.
The exhaustive 3,700-
page federal review , dated
Dec. 29, concludes that
chlorpyrifos and malathion
jeopardize 38 out of the 77
species under the jurisdic-
tion of the fisheries service
and that diazinon was found
to jeopardize 25 of the listed
species.
The report makes detailed
recommendations to the
Environmental Protection
Agency for new restrictions
on how and where the pesti-
cides can be sprayed to help
limit the harm.
EPA Administrator Scott
Pruitt in March reversed an
Obama-era effort to bar the
use of chlorpyrifos on fruits
and vegetables after peer-re-
viewed academic studies
found that even tiny levels
of exposure could hinder the
development of children’s
brains.
EPA’s press office did not
respond Friday to a request
seeking comment about the
latest federal study on the
threat to protected species.
Organophosphorus gas
was originally developed
as a chemical weapon
before World War II. Dow
Chemical, based in Midland,
Michigan, has been selling
chlorpyrifos for spraying on
citrus fruits, apples, cherries
and other crops since the
1960s. It is among the most
widely used agricultural
pesticides in the United
States, with Dow selling
about 5 million pounds (2.3
million kilograms) domesti-
cally each year.
Dow AgroSciences, the
Dow subsidiary that sells
chlorpyrifos, did not respond
to a request for comment
Friday.
The Associated Press first
reported in April that lawyers
representing Dow and two
other pesticide companies
sent letters to three of
Trump’s Cabinet secre-
taries saying the academic
studies were flawed. Dow
wrote a $1 million check
to help underwrite Trump’s
inaugural festivities, and
company CEO Andrew
Liveris led a now-disbanded
White House manufacturing
working group.
CropLife America, an
industry trade group that
lobbies Congress and federal
agencies on pesticide regula-
tions, said it is still reviewing
the final National Marine
Fisheries Service opinion.
“The denial of a requested
extension of time to complete
the opinion resulted in a
document that has the poten-
tial to create exaggerated
and unfounded concerns
regarding threatened and
endangered species and have
a negative impact on farmers
as well as public health
protection,” said Jay Vroom,
the CEO of CropLife.
A coalition of environ-
mentalists and commercial
fishermen has fought in court
for more than a decade to
spur the federal government
to more closely examine
the risk posed to humans
and endangered species by
organophosphates.
Studies have shown for
years that even low levels
of pesticides running off
into streams and rivers
can impair the growth,
swimming ability and repro-
ductive systems of salmon.
Potentially harmful levels
of the toxins then build up
in the bodies of orcas, also
known as killer whales, that
eat salmon.
started Feeding the Child, a
program that packed backbacks
with food for students to take home
to their families.
When they started the program,
McBee said they were filling
20 backpacks a week. Midway
through the 2017-2018 school year,
Altrusa is now packing 247 back-
packs per week and will continue
to pack more.
McBee said the increased
demand reflects a community with
growing needs. While 20 percent
of the district’s students qualified
for free and reduced lunch in 2007,
in 2018 four out of the district’s
six schools have more than half of
students who qualify.
In its second year, the KARE
program is starting to grow as well,
having already surpassed the 30
students it served in 2017.
To continue funding the
program, Altrusa will hold the
Love Keeps Us Warm event at the
Slickfork Saloon on Feb. 10. It will
feature live music, dessert and hors
d’oeuvres. McBee said 100 percent
of the proceeds from the $25 tickets
will go toward KARE in addition
to any donations made at the event.
McBee said Altrusa drops off the
supplies at the schools and rarely
meets the students that benefit from
KARE face to face.
But last year, McBee was
personally thanked by a student
who cried as she embraced McBee.
“She didn’t have a perspective
that strangers would care about
her,” McBee said.
“Same crap, different pile”
Ozzie is another beneficiary
of the KARE program, having
received a sleeping bag and other
supplies from Altrusa.
Because of his prior homeless-
ness, Ozzie, an 18-year-old student
at Pendleton High School, declined
to share his last name.
His family’s troubles started
early in 2017, when his mom took
a four-week trip out of the country.
Ozzie said his mother relied on
people to pay the electric and rent
bills while she was away, but they
didn’t come through.
When she returned, they were
evicted from there home.
Ozzie and his mom stayed in a
hotel for a while before moving in
with his brother and his girlfriend.
With all of them cramped into a
two-bedroom trailer, Ozzie said he
slept on a fold-out couch that didn’t
have enough room to fold out.
He remembered having to wake
up in the middle of the night to
readjust the cushions because they
continued to fall off the sofa.
During this time, Ozzie said he
tried to keep his public and private
life separate, opening up more to
his friends when life was going well
while staying more quiet during the
tougher weeks.
Ozzie and his mom moved into
a trailer of their own in October,
and although he said his room is
about the size of a storage closet,
he has enough space and is happy
its just the two of them again.
Once he graduates from high
school, Ozzie hopes to move to the
San Diego area and pursue a career
in writing graphic novels. To Ozzie,
his bout with homelessness was
just another obstacle to overcome.
“Same crap, different pile,” he
said. “It’s the way you deal with the
crap that matters.”
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or
541-966-0836.
FLU: Has killed 20 children in the U.S. this year
Continued from 1A
and get a flu shot — now.
Umatilla County Public
Health Administrator Jim
Setzer said the same thing.
“Get your flu shot,” he
ordered, in a voice that
brooked no disobedience.
I planned to do just that.
Sometime.
Then the flu happened.
On the second day of
my internal storm, unable
to sleep any more, I walked
from my bed to the kitchen
and back, feeling as if I’d
run a marathon. I snuggled
back under the blankets and
spent the next few hours
binge watching “The Good
Wife” and “This is Us,”
checking my newsfeed,
texting friends and playing
nerdy word games —
Scrabble, Words with
Friends and Word Streak.
Finally, bored, I searched
the Internet to find out how
many others are in my
predicament. The Centers
for Disease Control and
Prevention reported that
the U.S. is in the midst of
an especially severe flu
season. Flu season ramped
up early this year. A map on
the website showed flu in
every state. So far, influenza
has killed 20 children in the
U.S. Several more weeks of
significant flu activity are
on tap. The CDC reported
high flu activity in Oregon
Call for Vendors!
and 26 other states.
I read an article from the
Bend Bulletin with interest.
The story said all 349 beds
in Bend, Redmond, Madras
and Prineville hospitals are
full. Flu appears to be the
culprit.
The most pervasive
strain, H3N2, is nasty. This
year’s vaccine included
H3N2, but the strain
morphed and mutated into
something different.
It’s still a good idea
to get a flu shot say the
experts. The vaccine is a
cocktail of viruses that are
inactivated and mixed with
proteins, fats and antigens.
If vaccinated people get the
flu, they are likely to get a
milder version.
It’s definitely worth
considering. I won’t be so
blasé next year about it.
The storms appears to be
lifting now. Life will go on.
Next year, however, when
influenza season threatens
like dark clouds on the
horizon, I won’t wait to get
a flu shot. I’ll be first in line.
■
East Oregonian staff
reporter Kathy Aney writes
about health and human
interest.
HERMISTON’S STAND
UP COMEDY EVENT
COMING SOON!
Saturday, April 14, 2018
Melonville Comedy Festival
Saturday, January 27
Hermiston community Center
Pendleton Convention Center
9:00 am - 3:00 pm
The 25th edition of the Melonville Comedy Festival will
feature three headline stand up comedians. These
comics are in demand corporate show entertainers.
Community Health Fair
Free Community Event
to Promote Wellness
N O C HARGE TO
H OST A B OOTH
To Reserve a Space
Call Emily @ 541-278-2627
emilysmith@chiwest.com
CORY MICHAELIS
A comic who appears in clubs in
Las Vegas, Seattle, New York and
Los Angeles. Cory has been
on the stage of several
Comedy Festivals.
KERMET APIO
A Hawaiian native, Kermet has been
working in standup comedy since
1990. His credits include Las Vegas,
Seattle and Aspen Comedy
Festivals and everyday life.
DEREK RICHARDS
Derek is a comic who has
worked USO Tours, the
Bob and Tom Show and
you can hear him on Siri-
us/XM Satellite Radio.
Tickets $35 per person
Sponsor:
Doors open at 7pm, Show starts at 8:00
2801 St. Anthony Way, Pendleton, OR 97801
Tickets available at Hermiston Chamber of
Commerce at the Cornerstone Plaza
Reserve Tickets at: 541-561-7488 •
NO REFUNDS • 21 & OVER